Technology for the poor

In my own search to decrease my monthly expenses, I’ve come across several technologies that appear to have substantial potential to help the poor.

1. Google Voice

Google has been running this free service for some time and recently announced plans to open it to the public. It’s marketed as a way to simply the way people get in touch with other people by allowing contacts to call a single telephone number, provided by Google, which is then routed to a home, cell, or work phone as directed by user settings. It also offers a free voice mail service that automatically transcribes voice messages and, it seems, will even leave a text-to-speech computerized voice mail in response.

Currently, welfare recipients have many difficulties obtaining and keeping telephone service. In my area, we have some of the highest phone rates in the country. A land line starts at about $30 per month, and cell phone service starts at $45 per month. Welfare pays only $40 per month for all expenses beyond rent, health care, and food. Consequently, many welfare recipients are forced to use pay-as-you-go phone plans, or they often lose their telephone service. As a result, many welfare recipients change telephone numbers frequently, or may not be able to afford enough minutes each month to have adequate time to speak with potential employers (as well as attorneys, family, friends, children, school officials, etc.) In fact, the problem is so severe that the inability of welfare to account for telephone costs was a large part of the basis for a recent lawsuit filed by a legal services organization in my area to get benefit levels raised. Payment rates have not had annual cost of living adjustments, so their buying power has decreased each year for decades.

A Google voice account will allow welfare recipients to retain the same telephone number and to have a permanent voice mailbox. This way, when an employer calls, they can be sure to get the message, thereby removing an impediment to competing in the job market.

2. Skype and Skype phones

In addition to a Google Voice account, Skype could also be an excellent tool for the poor. Skype is an internet based phone utility. For about $60 per year, customers get their own telephone number, which anyone can call from any telephone, and which can be used to place outbound calls to others, even long distance. There are wireless phones available for a little more than $100 that are pre-programmed with Skype that can place calls over any wifi connection, even without a computer. This means that for $160 per year, a welfare recipient could make unlimited calls and receive unlimited calls.

This will save taxpayer money, since welfare recipients are currently paying for traditional phone options, which are far more expensive.

Has anyone else come across technology that could help the poor?